Luchino Visconti "Bellissima" (1951)

If there is one thing I can state for sure about this film is that it is annoying. I don't mean this in the sense that the film was not enjoyable or meaningful; quite the contrary. When I use the word annoying I am referring to the emotions I felt while watching the film. The first thing that struck me was that I literally started to get a headache from how much yelling there was in the film. It is as if Visconti took the most "galline" of all women and put them into one film and then pressed play for two hours. The second thing that made this film "annoying" was the ignorance and selfishness of Maddalena to what she was doing to her young daughter. In this sense, the use of the word "annoying" means that the director did a really good job in making the viewer connect to the film, in making the viewer feel. The point of the film was to see this mother's desperation, neuroticism, and naivety…I was annoyed or “bothered” so much that I even started to get a little angry! The film did a really job in getting a reaction by it’s characterization of the “gallina,” the sleazy nature of the film industry, but ultimately the sacrifices a person is willing to make to become a star.

The film was also a bit ironic in the parallels it drew between the narrative of the film and the situation of the film industry in Italy during the time period. The 1950's saw the rise of beauty pageants like Miss Italia, that in the end were basically contests searching for "beautiful new faces" for the film industry. This film draws on this same idea of the beauty pageant winner, but instead it is young girls competing against each other for their big break, or in reality their mothers. Indeed the children rarely speak in the film as the mothers speak in their place, in many ways exploiting them and trying to find the fame that they never had. The rise of the "star" figure in Italy and the beauty pageants that often created these figures created the dream of stardom among the populace. This film broke down the romanticized view of become a star. At the end in the film testing room Maddalena hears the story of the film editor, whom she recognizes from a film she had seen. The girls story about the “truth” of the industry debunks the myth of stardom. But what really changes Maddalena is when the directors laugh at her daughter’s screen test and call her a dwarf. By the end of the film Maddalena’s dreams for her daughter are crushed and the “ugly face of fame” is revealed. In my opinion the film remains a favorite even today because it is still pertinent. When the film started I immediately thought of shows like "Toddlers in Tiaras," where the same thing is happening that is happening in this film. The film is not only well-constructed and well-acted, it is also criticizing its own industry! Notably the lead performer, Anna Madnani was an actress by profession, and  did not come from the beauty pageant circuit, keeping the film in line with the values it seems to preach. It is not enough to just be “Bellissima.” 

Overall the film achieved what it wanted to achieve. It was enjoyable yet also "annoying," but salvages the main character and the story in the end when Maddalena refuses to sign the film contract for her daughter.